Has Equestria been in a "Dark Age"?

[bubbleteapony 583]

just a little speculation here: (pardon my tentative knowledge on the history of equestria, let me know if I get anything wrong ^^' )
in the show, we see that the pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns fought a lot when they first came to equestria. They resolve that, a live peacefully together, and we get the first elements of harmony, but then they have to seal themselves away to stop the pony of shadows. Celestia and Luna become the new elements, but then they have to fight Discord, and then each other, and we lose the elements again. Even the Mane 6 lose the elements again. Sombra is an issue for the Crystal Empire somewhere in there too; and on top of all that, the ponies are at best neutral, and at worse active enemies with the other races like the hippogriffs, gryphons, changelings, and dragons. Equestria is basically at war with things constantly up until the end of season 9

We don't see any non-ponies really integrate into pony society until season 8-9 ish with the school of friendship.

So what do you think? Do you think the events in FIM would be considered a "dark age" in the future when Equestria has more allies and (hopefully) less conflict?
It's up to you if you want to consider G5 into this as well

[SharpWit 2,472]

My headcanon is that Equestria's darkest age would have occurred about a century prior to the events of FIM in the form of a world war 1 or 2 level conflict.

The destruction brought about by it would have been deemed so awful though, that Celestia would ban the use of some firms if magic and technology for their deadliness or capability for weaponization, explaining this mish mash of a time period FIM shows itself to be in.

With Equestria originally being conveyed as a ponified North America on the very first official map, I also think they would have shared the early isolationist tendencies of the United States, but rather than bringing Equestria to the forefront for aid and reconstruction during the aftermath, the horrors of war would reinforce that isolationism, leaving us with this equine utopia while the rest of the world sits by with at best, mild resentment.

However, the history books may choose to look past this and view the period shortly after Luna's Banishment as a dark age, with the nation suddenly becoming much more vulnerable to attack, and perhaps losing the prestige of a global empire over time.

All I can say for certain, is that FIM can definitely consider the time of the three tribes fighting one another as a dark age, and maybe Equestria in the future will consider the dissolution of the pony races as another.

The time leading up to Luna's return could be viewed as a jolly good time, much like the US views the period after WW2, despite it being abundantly ripe with issues.

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

Equestria had the worst kind of Dark Age possible. It's called G5. 

[xLuneti 54]

Yes? it's showed right here

 

[bubbleteapony 583]

5 hours ago, xLuneti said:

Yes? it's showed right here

 

Metaphorical "dark" age- not a literal analogy to the IRL middle ages   Because this is just another instance of the long string of bad events that have happened in equestria I would honestly just count this towards the collective pony dark age I'm thinking of

 

I think according to the show's timeline this would put that entire "dark age" at lasting over a thousand years? Or thousands? To be fair the real Middle Ages lasted a bit over 1,000 years so the exaggerated timeline of the show isn't too out there by comparison

[Splashee 28,537]

23 hours ago, bubbleteapony said:

So what do you think? Do you think the events in FIM would be considered a "dark age" in the future when Equestria has more allies and (hopefully) less conflict?
It's up to you if you want to consider G5 into this as well

For G4, Equestria was definitely in some kind of..... dark age. A lot was of course for drama and series finale stuff. The biggest question we have is what happened between G4 and G5, and hopefully will get some clarification to that soon.

 

Would you want to live in a world where it is enough to just go out into the forest and be destroyed by some creature? Where there are creatures that don't know what friendship means and need schools to tell them? Where the weather is controlled by colorful horses, but other creatures are still somewhat surviving without all of that? It sounds very dark age to me. It is a wonder the ponies are so happy and feel safe all the time, with so many threats all around them. And what about the creatures that need sunlight, having to depend on the ponies to get the sun up and running each morning?

[bubbleteapony 583]

5 hours ago, Splashee said:

For G4, Equestria was definitely in some kind of..... dark age. A lot was of course for drama and series finale stuff. The biggest question we have is what happened between G4 and G5, and hopefully will get some clarification to that soon.

 

Would you want to live in a world where it is enough to just go out into the forest and be destroyed by some creature? Where there are creatures that don't know what friendship means and need schools to tell them? Where the weather is controlled by colorful horses, but other creatures are still somewhat surviving without all of that? It sounds very dark age to me. It is a wonder the ponies are so happy and feel safe all the time, with so many threats all around them. And what about the creatures that need sunlight, having to depend on the ponies to get the sun up and running each morning?

You put this into better words than I did My thoughts exactly though! In G5 it seems fairly peaceful out in the "wilds" where there aren't any pony civilizations. We only saw ponies and occasionally a cute little critter, but nothing big and threatening like in G4 that the ponies had to fight. Other than the feud between the individual pony races there's not a whole lot going on, making G4 seem very..... dark, and dangerous by comparison haha

[Misty Shadow 7,065]

I honestly feel the only times of Equestria that could be considered a "dark age" would be the time of the Pillars and the time before Celestia and Luna with the Windigos. All the bad stuff the Mane 6 went through with the villains was only a small fraction of their experience in Equestria and Luna said herself that Equestria was enjoying its longest period of harmony in recent years. 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by CloudMistDragon
Retraction.

[Reality Check 627]

When the pony tribes were still separated, the birth of the pony of shadows, Sombra's reign, when Luna was banished, the battle against the legion of doom...

Yeah, I'm starting to think that Equestria might not be as safe as it make itself seems

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

3 hours ago, CloudMistDragon said:

G5 takes place in the future and we've literally only seen one part of that future.  If you've turned on the entire generation over a low-budget looking series of Youtube shorts, that is ridiculous. 

Way to take everything seriously there. I was joking about the fact that all the races hated each other in G5, thus making it a dark age.

[Misty Shadow 7,065]

3 hours ago, TomDaBombMLP said:

Way to take everything seriously there. I was joking about the fact that all the races hated each other in G5, thus making it a dark age.

Cheerfully retracted. Sorry for jumping the gun, G5 cynicism like that is everywhere now. Judging from the "Shocked" reactions, I wasn't the only one who had a hard time telling it wasn't a jab, but I don't excuse my initial response. 

Staying on topic, it's still difficult for me to consider G5 a dark age, not just because it takes place in the future, but because of how prosperous the world of it is. Sunny also looks back on the world of FiM as a model for how her world should be, so I still doubt the time of FiM would ever be considered a dark age too. 

[bubbleteapony 583]

I had personally responded 'shock' as a joke- I think we should keep things friendly I just think it's funny with how peaceful equestria considers itself, it's constantly going through different kinds of conflicts. But without all that, it wouldn't be a story

[Misty Shadow 7,065]

7 hours ago, bubbleteapony said:

I had personally responded 'shock' as a joke- I think we should keep things friendly I just think it's funny with how peaceful equestria considers itself, it's constantly going through different kinds of conflicts. But without all that, it wouldn't be a story

Again, I'm sorry, I take full responsibility.